This invention relates to a system, apparatus, and a method of dispensing a liquid-like material from a semi-bulk container, and is particularly concerned with the dispensing of such a liquid from a disposable or throwaway container.
Heretofore, many liquids, such as wine, soft drink concentrate, and the like, were pressure dispensed from a rigid wall metal container by pressurizing the container with a gas to a pressure level sufficient to force the liquid from the rigid wall container via a dip tube to a dispenser which was located remotely from the container. For example, in a restaurant, a rigid container holding a semi-bulk quantity (e.g., 1-15 gallons) of wine may be located in a refrigerated cold box and piped to a wine dispensing station conveniently located within the restaurant for ready access by restaurant personnel. In dispensing soft drinks mixed with carbonated water and concentrated soft drink syrup, the syrup is conventionally delivered to the restaurant by a soft drink bottler in a rigid, semi-bulk cannister. These cannisters are typically provided with quick disconnect fittings so as to enable a source of pressurized gas (e.g., nitrogen or carbon dioxide) to be connected to the cannister and to pressurize the interior of the rigid cannister and the liquid therein. Typically, the cannister is a reusable container sized to contain approximately 5 gallons of liquid and is constructed so as to withstand a predetermined pressure with an adequate margin of safety.
As was conventional, these prior art cannisters were of sturdy, metal construction, such as stainless steel or the like, and consequently were expensive. On return of these cannisters to the soft drink bottling plant, it was, of course, necessary to clean and sterilize the cannisters prior to reuse. Also, it was often necessary to repair the quick disconnect fittings and other seals on the cannisters so as to prevent leakage. Since these cannisters were reused, it was necessary for the soft drink delivery person to not only deliver filled cannisters to a customer, but the empty cannisters must be collected and reloaded on the delivery truck with consequent increased labor costs.
To overcome problems with manual pouring of beverages (e.g., wine), prior art semi-bulk wine dispensing systems have been proposed. One such system utilizes a stainless steel container into which several gallons of wine from one-gallon jugs may be poured. The container is sealed and is pressurized with nitrogen or carbon dioxide gas (depending on the type of wine to be dispensed) and the pressurized wine is pumped from the container via a dip tube to a convenient dispensing station within the restaurant where the wine may be conveniently dispensed by restaurant personnel. The semi-bulk wine container may be located remote from the serving area in a storage room or in the basement and may be kept in a refrigerated cold box. Additionally, the pressure dispensing of the wine allows automatic and accurate dispensing of predetermined quantities of the wine. More specifically, these prior art semi-bulk wine dispensing systems have utilized electronically controlled, pretimed solenoid valves which when energized will dispense a predetermined volume or quantity of wine. It will be appreciated that if the pressurizing force in the cannister remains substantially constant, and if the dispensing valve remains open for a predetermined period of time, a known quantity of wine will accurately be dispensed. The time required to dispense a desired quantity of wine (for example a liter) will be dependent on the pressure level in the cannister and the length of the hose from the cannister to the dispensing station, as well as other factors. By varying the time that the dispensing valve remains open, predetermined quantities of wine can automatically be dispensed. This is particularly advantageous because it permits a waitress to set a carafe or other container under the dispensing nozzle and to activate the dispenser and then to walk away from the dispenser to attend to other tasks while the container is filled. Since it may take several seconds to fill the container, the waitress need not stand at the container. Additionally, accurate and uniform portions will be served to all customers. No customer is "shortchanged" and the restaurant owner can readily monitor the amount of wine sold. Some prior art dispensing systems include means for keeping track of the wine served thus permitting the restaurant owner to accurately check his cash register receipts against his inventories.
However, the above described dispensing systems may be in conflict with certain state and federal laws and regulations regarding the sale and dispensing of alcholic beverages. Generally, a bar or restaurant owner is required to dispense the alcoholic beverage from the container on which a tax stamp has been affixed. Because the above-described semi-bulk wine dispensing system required the restaurant owner to fill the semi-bulk container with wine from other containers, the wine is not dispensed from the original container on which the tax has been paid.
Because of the nature of the wine market with many major wineries being located, for example, in California, it is not practical to utilize a returnable semi-bulk container as is used in the dispensing of soft drink concentrates. In recent years, a disposable, semi-bulk wine container has been introduced. This container consisted of a leakproof bag of suitable synthetic resin material contained within a corrugated paperboard shipping box. The bag had an inlet/outlet stopper which permitted the bag to be filled. To dispense the wine, the container was installed in a dispenser in the restaurant's serving area and the inlet/outlet was connected to the dispensing nozzle of the dispenser and the container was inverted so that the outlet was at the bottom of the bag. Thus, upon opening the dispensing valve, the wine would gravity flow out of the bag. As the wine flowed out of the bag, atmospheric pressure would collapse the bag. However, because the wine was not pressured dispensed, the advantages of automatic dispensing could not be utilized. Moreover, as the bag within the shipping container collapsed, quantities of wine could be trapped in folds and creases formed in the bag. This, of course, resulted in a waste of some of the wine and thus represented a loss of income to the restaurant owner. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,695 which discloses a fluid dispensing system similar to the above-described disposable gravity flow wine dispensing system.
In addition, difficulties have been encountered with dispensing other liquids and liquid-like flowable material such as lubricating grease and soft shortening. Typically, a semi-solid material, such as shortening, is delivered to a bakery in drums and the baker, utilizing a paddle or scoop, must remove a desired quantity of the shortening and weigh it on a scale before adding it to other ingredients. The time required for the baker to scoop out a quantity of the shortening, to weight it, and to close the container represents a significant amount of time in the baking operation. It will be appreciated that oftentimes the baker may make several trips back and forth between the scale and the container of shortening until an exact desired amount of shortening has been measured out.
Reference may be made to the following U.S. patents which indicate generally prior art semi-bulk dispensing apparatus in the same general field as the instant invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,371,822, 3,589,506, 3,768,706, 3,945,534 and 4,045,860.